1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of digitally editing a photograph in preparation for applying the photograph to the face of a doll.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several prior art methods exist for making dolls having a face with an appearance of an actual person. However, most of these dolls are either hard to produce or very unrealistic in appearance. This is due to the lack of editing performed on the image before the image is applied to the doll. The following U.S. Patents are examples.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,224 issued to Gintling on Apr. 4, 1995 shows photograph face doll with a removable face pocket. It includes a doll having a pocket secured to the face portion for displaying a photograph. A photographic image of a person can be cut into a shape that fits within the pocket attached to the doll""s face. In this manner, the doll is customizable. This method of customization is very easy for the owner of the doll to perform. However, it is not life-like and creates a picture frame like appearance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,987 issued to Hull et al. on Feb. 19, 1991 shows a doll with a photographic image face. It is a doll having a personalized, photographic face impregnated in the material of which the doll is constructed using dye sublimation. It does not disclose any specific editing methods for the image before the image is placed on the doll through the process of sublimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,788 issued to Penberthy et al. on Sep. 8, 1998 shows a figurine having a sublimated image for a face. It states, xe2x80x9cThe present invention concerns a figurine with a picture image for a face, and in particular, to a ceramic figurine and process for producing a ceramic figurine which has a transferred photograph image for a face. Difficulties associated with dye sublimating a photographic or other image onto a three dimensional figure can be overcome by utilizing a substantially three dimensional representative head having a planar facial region. By utilizing a flat/planar facial region a standard flat heat press system may be utilized to sublimate an image into the coating of a ceramic figure. The resulting image is unexpectedly clear and lifelike with a smooth appearance and no sharp edges.xe2x80x9d This patent also includes a very thorough description of dolls designed to include life-like features. The following is another excerpt from that patent.
xe2x80x9cGenerally, a doll is a small representative figure of a human being and has traditionally been considered a child""s toy. Dolls have been known since ancient times. In Europe, during the 15th century, xe2x80x9cfashion dollsxe2x80x9d which were given as gifts by monarchs and courtiers helped spread costume styles. Germany was noted for manufacture of wooden dolls during the 17th century and of china doll""s heads during the 19th century. In Paris during the 18th century, dolls were manufactured that could speak and close their eyes. In the 19th century dolls were made of fabric, paper-mache, china, wax, hard rubber or bisque. By the 20th century doll manufacturing was an important U.S. industry.
xe2x80x9cDolls are not exclusively children""s toys. Many individuals purchase figurines and dolls as collectibles. Collectible dolls and figurines are often displayed on shelves or in curio cabinets.
xe2x80x9cIn addition to mass produced commercially available dolls, and even more limited edition collector""s dolls, there is a need for a doll which can be customized or personalized by the purchaser.
xe2x80x9cSpecifically, a mother might want a doll representative of her child at a particular age or a grandparent might want dolls representative of her grandchild(ren). The demand for customizable and personalized items bearing photographic images is evidenced by the recent increase in sales of personalized computer image T-shirts and coffee mugs.
xe2x80x9cAdditionally, an individual may want to create a figurine which is representative of a sports hero, historical figure or even a figurine which is representative of a pet.xe2x80x9d
Since dolls and figurines have been in existence for centuries there are many examples of specialized dolls in the prior art. However, none of the dolls in the prior art have customizable facial features that use an editing process to solve problems associated with creating a life-like doll.
The instant invention is a method of digitally editing a photographic image of a real-life person for attaching said image to a soft-bodied doll having a generally planar face. The process includes electronically importing the photographic image of a person by using a scanner, a digital camera, a compact disk, or an attachment to an e-mail to produce a digital image file. The image is then digitally edited using any image editor. The face is masked while the neck of the person and background of the image are deleted. A portion of the persons cheek is then sampled and lightened slightly to form a neck color which then fills in the previously deleted portion.
In a second embodiment, only the eyes, nose and mouth are masked while the rest of the image is either tinted to a chosen color corresponding to the color of fabric used in producing the doll, or erased slightly to allow the prematched background color to blend through to recolor the image. In a third embodiment, the image is lightened in color. This allows the color of the fabric used in producing the doll to bleed through the image. In this embodiment, the eyes and teeth are first whitened as much as possible. In a fourth embodiment, all areas of the photograph except the eyes, nose and mouth areas are removed and the resulting image is transferred to the face of the doll.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a life-like doll having an image of a real-life person as a face.
It is another object of the present invention to digitally edit a photograph of a person so as to create an image which is easily transformed to the face of a doll.
It is another object of the present invention to digitally edit a photograph of a person so as to create a doll having a realistic looking face without the additional image data normally associated with a photograph.
It is another object of the present invention to digitally edit a photograph of a person to convert the image into a shape which better fits a fabric pattern for a three-dimensional doll.
It is another object of the present invention to digitally edit a photograph of a person so as to create a neck portion that gives the doll a realistic life-like appearance.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.